Authored by Dr Harsh Sharma, Edited and Peer Reviewed by Dr. Pooja Sharma

Published April 3, 2014, Last updated October 21, 2016

Understanding Piles or Hemorrhoids

Suffering from pain while passing stool? Feeling as if something is obstructing the passage of stool? Having bleeding along with stool? If you have any of the above mentioned symptoms, you could be suffering from piles or hemorrhoids. Medically speaking, piles are veins in the rectal area that swell due to various reasons. The swollen veins may be inside the rectal ring or outside and are accordingly called internal or external piles. In some severe cases, the piles protrude from within the anal canal and have to be reduced or put back inside manually.

Piles symptoms or Hemorrhoids

The most common piles symptoms are pain while passing stool, itching or burning in the anal region, bleeding during stool. The pain may vary from patient to patient and some patients complain of only mild pain while others have severe. Often patients complain that the pain persists for hours after passing stool. Blood in stool may be just a few drops or the stool may be streaked with a little blood while in some patients, there is a lot of fresh blood. Itching or burning may also be present in the rectal area.

Piles or Hemorrhoids causes

The sedentary lifestyle of today’s world in which we have hardly any exercise and have become couch potatoes is the major reason for hemorrhoids or piles. Lack of exercise or physical activity causes the blood flow to slow down and this blood collects in the veins in the anal region. Moreover, the food that we eat is heavily loaded with spices, fat and calories while it is low in fibre or roughage. The food high in fat content is difficult to digest and also takes more time to get digested. The roughage is necessary to form the bulk of the stool and in its absence, one tends to have constipation. Another corollary of the sedentary lifestyle and unsuitable food habits is obesity. Being obese further contributes to the retardation in blood flow, thus causing hemorrhoids.

It is pertinent to mention here that non-vegetarian food is heavier and takes more time to get digested. It comes out to be harder on the digestive system and stays longer in the digestive tract. On the other hand, fruits and vegetables are easier to digest, are high in fibre content and low in fat content. Therefore, they get digested easily and help in avoiding constipation.

Some people have constipation for no known reason. They may have hard stool or even if the stool is normal, the expulsive power or their peristaltic movements may be a little weaker. Straining to clear the bowels for one or the other reason can contribute to piles. Taking laxatives to tide over this problem may be helpful in the short term but in the long run, laxatives can prove to be a major contributory factor to piles.

Women often tend to get piles during pregnancy. During pregnancy, the uterus expands and puts a lot of pressure on the surrounding intestines as well as the rectal area. This causes blood flow to slow down. In most of such cases, piles improve after childbirth but sometimes the problem persists even afterwards.

Do’s and Don’t’s for piles or hemorrhoids

·Keep moving and shun sedentary lifestyle. Regular walk is the very helpful as it reduces obesity as well as improves the blood circulation.

·Intake of water should be good. Taking lot of water helps in digestion, neutralises excess acid and keeps the intestines hydrated, thus avoiding constipation.

· Fruits and salads should be a regular part of your meals while spices and fatty food should be avoided.

·Straining at stool can cause piles and should be avoided. Regular walk, light food and plenty of water helps avoiding constipation.

·The abuse of laxatives should be avoided. Taking hot milk at bedtime is a better alternative.

Treating Piles – the best treatment of Piles or Hemorrhoids

The obvious question on the minds of the patient is how to treat piles and that too by avoiding surgery. While there may be tall claims by different alternative or complementary systems of medicine, the best treatment for piles is Homeopathic only. It is so because of the various advantages that Homeopathy has over any other treatment for piles or hemorrhoids. Surgery has many disadvantages. One major disadvantage of surgical treatment for piles is that it is not a permanent cure. There are strong chances of recurrence of piles even after surgery. One can easily understand that recurrence defeats the very purpose of surgical intervention. One cannot keep on getting surgeries done one after another for the same thing. Other disadvantages are that it is a messy affair and costs a lot.

Another commonly used alternative or complementary treatment for piles or hemorrhoids is the Ayurvedic or herbal treatment. It is a well known fact that these Ayurvedic or herbal medicines for piles do not suit anyone. They are likely to be ‘hot’ in nature and often end up harming the system even more than they help.

The third and best alternative system for piles treatment is the homeopathic system. It is the best system out of all alternative or complementary systems for piles or hemorrhoids because it has no adverse medicinal effects. Whenever you take homeopathic medicines, you can rest assured that there will be no side effect or adverse medicinal effect. At the same time, the homeopathic treatment is very cost effective. It is likely to cost not even one-tenth of the cost of surgery. Moreover, the homeopathic medicines are easy to take. They are sweet in taste and can be carried anywhere. Last but not the least, there is no recurrence of piles once it has been cured.

Homeopathic treatment for Piles or Hemorrhoids

When we talk of piles treatment in Homeopathy, the biggest advantage is that it is a non surgical option and that too a very successful one. There is no fun getting a surgery done when the chances of recurrence remain pretty high. When you compare this to the Homeopathic treatment for piles, Homeopathy offers a much better alternative to the surgical treatment of hemorrhoids or piles. This is because of three reasons which I have seen hundreds of times in my practice. One is that homeopathy cures the problem permanently. Secondly there is no recurrence of the problem. Third reason is that the homeopathic treatment for piles is much easier to have when compared to getting a surgery done. Homeopathic medicines like Aesculus Hippocastinum, Aloes, Ratanhia, Nitric Acid, Hamamelis, Collinsonia and Graphites are very helpful in the treatment of hemorrhoids or piles.